The U.S. Army has ordered soldiers to stop posting to blogs or sending personal e-mail messages, without first clearing the content with a superior officer, Wired News has learned. The directive, issued April 19, is the sharpest restriction on troops' online activities since the start of the Iraq war. And it could mean the end of military blogs, observers say.

Military officials have been wrestling for years with how to handle troops who publish blogs. Officers have weighed the need for wartime discretion against the opportunities for the public to personally connect with some of the most effective advocates for the operations in Afghanistan and Iraq -- the troops themselves. The secret-keepers have generally won the argument, and the once-permissive atmosphere has slowly grown more tightly regulated. Soldier-bloggers have dropped offline as a result...

The Bottom-Line to the this bad piece of regulation: The soldiers who will attempt to fly under the radar and post negative
items about the military, mission, and commanders will continue to do
so under the new regs. The soldiers who've been playing ball the last
few years, the vast, VAST, majority will be reduced. In my mind, this
reg will accomplish the exact opposite of its intent. The good guys
are restricted and the bad continue on...

Operational Security is of paramount importance. But we are losing the Information War on all fronts. Fanatic-like adherence to OPSEC will do us little good if we lose the few honest voices that tell the truth about The Long War.

Instead, the US Army should adopt Major Robbins recommendations, allow for unit bloggers, and restrict bloggers with the same rules as the military gives embed reporters (with UCMJ exceptions). Maybe, then, we can start winning some battles on the information front.

"If the Army restricts bloggers, all you will have are pissed-off dissident bloggers who are willing to take a risk...every Article-15 schlep will be blogging and all of the guys in this room who are trying to get the stories out, will not. That'll be the end."

Update 7 05-03-07: Army releases announcement (I'll post when there's an official link) which essentially is stepping back from the stricter language of the regulation. This is a smart and welcome change, although it will not change, nor republish, the regulation.

Here is my response from the comments:

The Army is stepping back on this. This wasn't an overblown reaction
to the reg. The reg was poorly written. The Wired article accurately
reflected the changes in the regulation. And now, General Officers are
on the move to prevent it from doing damage. The Army is doing the
right thing here. This announcement is a welcome change...however, the
"announcement" does not reside within the reg, and therefore,
commanders, when consulting the regulations, won't know about it unless
it's disseminated widely (like, say, at a milblog conference).

<...>

Outside of Special Ops, I
highly doubt that many commanders would ever take a liberal
interpretation of any regulation, let alone a regulation pertaining to
OPERATIONAL SECURITY?!

Taking a different tact than what the reg dictates is a substantial
opportunity for demotion or a stay with all expenses paid at ol' Ft.
Leavenworth.

The U.S. Army has ordered soldiers to stop posting to blogs or sending personal e-mail messages, without first clearing the content with a superior officer, Wired News has learned. The directive, issued April 19, is the sharpest restriction on troops' online activities since the start of the Iraq war. And it could mean the end of military blogs, observers say.

Military officials have been wrestling for years with how to handle troops who publish blogs. Officers have weighed the need for wartime discretion against the opportunities for the public to personally connect with some of the most effective advocates for the operations in Afghanistan and Iraq -- the troops themselves. The secret-keepers have generally won the argument, and the once-permissive atmosphere has slowly grown more tightly regulated. Soldier-bloggers have dropped offline as a result...

The Bottom-Line to the this bad piece of regulation: The soldiers who will attempt to fly under the radar and post negative
items about the military, mission, and commanders will continue to do
so under the new regs. The soldiers who've been playing ball the last
few years, the vast, VAST, majority will be reduced. In my mind, this
reg will accomplish the exact opposite of its intent. The good guys
are restricted and the bad continue on...

Operational Security is of paramount importance. But we are losing the Information War on all fronts. Fanatic-like adherence to OPSEC will do us little good if we lose the few honest voices that tell the truth about The Long War.

Instead, the US Army should adopt Major Robbins recommendations, allow for unit bloggers, and restrict bloggers with the same rules as the military gives embed reporters (with UCMJ exceptions). Maybe, then, we can start winning some battles on the information front.

"If the Army restricts bloggers, all you will have are pissed-off dissident bloggers who are willing to take a risk...every Article-15 schlep will be blogging and all of the guys in this room who are trying to get the stories out, will not. That'll be the end."

Update 7 05-03-07: Army releases announcement (I'll post when there's an official link) which essentially is stepping back from the stricter language of the regulation. This is a smart and welcome change, although it will not change, nor republish, the regulation.

Here is my response from the comments:

The Army is stepping back on this. This wasn't an overblown reaction
to the reg. The reg was poorly written. The Wired article accurately
reflected the changes in the regulation. And now, General Officers are
on the move to prevent it from doing damage. The Army is doing the
right thing here. This announcement is a welcome change...however, the
"announcement" does not reside within the reg, and therefore,
commanders, when consulting the regulations, won't know about it unless
it's disseminated widely (like, say, at a milblog conference).

<...>

Outside of Special Ops, I
highly doubt that many commanders would ever take a liberal
interpretation of any regulation, let alone a regulation pertaining to
OPERATIONAL SECURITY?!

Taking a different tact than what the reg dictates is a substantial
opportunity for demotion or a stay with all expenses paid at ol' Ft.
Leavenworth.

The Authors

Former Paratrooper and Army Officer, "Blackfive" started this blog upon learning of the valorous sacrifice of a friend that was not reported by the journalist whose life he saved. Email: blackfive AT gmail DOT com

Instapinch
Bill Paisley, otherwise known as Pinch, is a 22 year (ongoing) active and
reserve naval aviator. He blogs over at www.instapinch.com on a veritable
cornucopia of various and sundry items and will bring a tactical naval
aviator's perspective to Blackfive. Readers be warned: any comments of or
about the F-14 Tomcat will be reverential and spoken in low, hushed tones.
Email: wpaisley AT comcast DOT net

Mr. Wolf has over 26 years in the Army, Army NG, and USAR. He’s Airborne with 5 years as an NCO, before becoming an officer. Mr. Wolf has had 4 company commands. Signal Corp is his basic branch, and Public Affairs is his functional area. He recently served 22 straight months in Kuwait and Iraq, in Intel, PA, and senior staff of MNF-I. Mr. Wolf is now an IT executive. He is currently working on a book on media and the Iraq war. Functional gearhead.

In Iraq, he received the moniker of Mr. Wolf after the Harvey Kietel character in Pulp Fiction, when "challenges" arose, they called on Mr. Wolf...
Email: TheDOTMrDOTWolfAT gmail DOT com

Deebow is a Staff Sergeant and a Military Police Squad Leader in the Army National Guard. In a previous life, he served in the US Navy. He has over 19 years of experience in both the Maritime and Land Warfare; including deployments to Southwest Asia, Thailand, the South Pacific, South America and Egypt. He has served as a Military Police Team Leader and Protective Services Team Leader and he has served on assignments with the US State Department, US Air Force Security Police, US Army Criminal Investigation Division, and the US Drug Enforcement Administration. He recently spent time in Afghanistan working with, training and fighting alongside Afghan Soldiers and is now focused on putting his 4 year Political Science degree to work by writing about foreign policy, military security policy and politics.

McQ has 28 years active and reserve service. Retired. Infantry officer. Airborne and Ranger. Consider my 3 years with the 82nd as the most fun I ever had with my clothes on. Interests include military issues and policy and veteran's affairs.
Email: mcq51 -at - bellsouth -dot- net

Tantor is a former USAF navigator/weapon system officer (WSO) in F-4E Phantoms who served in the US, Asia, and Europe. He is now a curmudgeonly computer geek in Washington, DC, picking the taxpayers pocket. His avocations are current events, aviation, history, and conservative politics.

Twenty-three years of Active and Reserve service in the US Army in SF (18B), Infantry and SOF Signal jobs with operational deployments to Bosnia and Africa. Since retiring he's worked as Senior Defense Analyst on SOF and Irregular Warfare projects and currently ensconced in the emerging world of Cyberspace.

The Authors Emeritus

Major Pain --
A Marine who began his blog in Iraq and reflects back on what he learned there and in Afghanistan. To the point opinions, ideas and thoughts on military, political and the media from One Marine’s View.Email: onemarinesview AT yahoo DOT com

Uber Pig was an Infantryman from late 1991 until early 1996, serving with Second Ranger Battalion, I Corps, and then 25th Infantry Division. At the time, the Army discriminated against enlisted soldiers who wanted use the "Green to Gold" program to become officers, so he left to attend Stanford University. There, he became expert in detecting, avoiding, and surviving L-shaped ambushes, before dropping out to be as entrepreneurial as he could be. He is now the founder of a software startup serving the insurance and construction industries, and splits time between Lake Tahoe, Boonville, and San Francisco, CA.

Uber Pig writes for Blackfive a) because he's the proud brother of an enlisted Civil Affairs Reservist who currently serves in Iraq, b) because he looks unkindly on people who make it harder for the military in general, and for his brother in particular, to succeed at their missions and come home in victory, and c) because the Blackfive readers and commenters help keep him sane.

COB6 spent 24 years in the active duty Army that included 5 combat tours with service in the 1st Ranger Battalion and 1st Special Forces Group . COB6 was enlisted (E-7) and took the OCS route to a commission. COB6 retired a few years back as a field grade Infantry officer.
Currently COB6 has a son in the 82nd Airborne that just returned from his third tour and has a newly commissioned daughter in the 4th Infantry Division.